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Definition[]

A cloud carrier is

[t]he intermediary that provides connectivity and transport of cloud services between Cloud Providers and Cloud Consumers.[1]

Overview[]

Cloud carriers provide access to consumers through network, telecommunication, and other access devices. For example, cloud consumers can obtain cloud services through network access devices, such as desktop computers, laptops, mobile phones, and other mobile Internet devices (MIDs). The distribution of cloud services is normally provided by network and telecommunication carriers or a transport agent, where a transport agent refers to a business organization that provides physical transport of storage media, such as high-capacity hard drives.

Note that a cloud provider will set up SLAs with a cloud carrier to provide services consistent with the level of SLAs offered to cloud consumers, and may require the cloud carrier to provide dedicated and secure connections between cloud consumers and cloud providers.

References[]

  1. NIST Taxonomy Terms and Definitions, v1.0 (Mar. 31, 2011) (full-text).

Source[]

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